KIGALI - About 100 city building owners have failed to meet last year’s deadline set by Kigali City Council requiring them to install proper sewage systems.

In January last year, KCC issued a directive to one hundred and fifty city building owners to construct proper sewage systems with a capacity to recycle and treat it internally.

KCC sent letters to the owners of the buildings in question asking them to address the matter, but many of the recipients remained defiant.

"Only 39 out of 150 building owners we notified last year have complied. Others are saying they don’t have capacity to build such systems," KCC inspector, Reuben Ahimbisibwe said.

He added: "Lack of capacity is not an excuse at all. They pollute the environment and we must find a solution."

KCC had given last year as a deadline for all building owners who have not installed proper sewage systems to do so or face closure.

Ahimbisibwe named Novetel Hotel, Union Trade Center (UTC), Kigali Business Centre (KBC), Banks and government institutions among those who are currently installing the modern required systems.

Restaurants, Ahimbisibwe said were the most environment polluters according to KCC’s assessment. Ahimbisibwe said KCC was also planning to team up with private sectors to build a sewage center system which would be used by the public.

"I hope the central system will have been installed within six months from now. After six years, we shall build another permanent sewage system for a long term solution," Ahimbisibwe said in an interview at his office in Kigali on Friday. "We are looking for the location where to install this public sewage centre. Building owners will pay a compulsory fee," Ahimbisibwe added. KCC said the government cannot allow people to poison the environment, arguing the concerned parties to be considerate. Rwanda Bureau of Standards had in the past said it was a health, social and ecological hazard to release untreated sewage into the environment.

RBS’s industry Inspector officer, Bizimungu Shukuru said building owners have the capacity to install required systems but some people become reluctant to protect the environment and the public. "We are working hand in hand with KCC to ensure that concerned parties install the required sewage systems," Bizimungu said.

On Wednesday, the Director of Urban Planning and Infrastructure at KCC, Egide Mugwiza noted that efforts to have all buildings install sewage systems were on course.

"Building owners are complying. Since last year, there are positive developments," Mugwiza said. Kigali Business Centre (KBC) and Alpha Palace Hotel were early last year closed for allegedly disposing sewage to the neighbourhood and re-opened shortly after promising to rectify the problem.

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